The JAZZ Story - Курсова робота

thedrummers work out the rhythmic patterns that became the foundation for"swinging" the beat.The best way to account for the early development of jazz in New Orleans is to familiarize yourself with the cultural and social history of this marvelously distinctive regional culture. One might say that jazz is the Americanization of the New Orleans music developed by the Creoles, occuring at a time when ragtime, blues, spirituals, marches, and popular "tin pan alley" music were converging. Jazz was a style of playing which drew from all of the above and presented an idiommatic model based on a concept of collective, rather than solo, improvisation.Ultimately, New Orleans players such as Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet developed a new approach which emphasized solos, but they both began their careers working in the collective format, evident in the early recordings by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1917), Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra (1921), the New Orleans Rhythm Kings (1922, 1923) and King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band (1923).Armstrong's impact became apparent with the popularity of his Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925-28), redirecting everyone's imagination toward inspired solos. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, community connections such as "jazz funerals" in which brass bands performed at funerals held by benevolentassociations continued to underline the role of jazz as a part of everyday life.Jazz may have been a luxury (entertainment) in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but in New Orleans it was a necessity--a part of the fabric of life in the neighborhoods. And it still is.THE EARLY MUSICIANS - Buddy, Bunk, Freddie and The KingThe players in these early bands were mostly artisans (carpenters,bricklayers, tailors, etc.) or laborers who took time out on weekends andholidays to make music along with a little extra cash.The first famous New Orleans musician, and the archetypal jazzman, wasBuddy Bolden (1877-1931). A barber by trade, he played cornet and beganto lead a band in the late 1890's. Quite probably, he was the first to mixthe basic, rough blues with more conventional band music. It was asignificant step in the evolution of Jazz.Bolden suffered a seizure during a 1907 Mardi Gras parade and spent therest of his life in an institution for the incurably insane. Rumor that hemade records have never been substantiated, and his music comes from the recollection of other musicians who heard him when they were young. Bunk Johnson (1989- 1949), who played second cornet in one of Bolden'slast bands, contributed greatly to the revival of interest in classic NewOrleans jazz that took place during the last decade of his life. A greatstoryteller and colorful personality, Johnson is responsible for much of theNew Orleans legend. But much of what he had to say was more fantasythan fact.Many people, including serious fans, believe that the early jazz musicianswere self-taught geniuses who didn't read music and never took a formallesson. A romantic notion, but entirely untrue. Almost every major figurein early jazz had at least a solid grasp of legitimate musical fundamentals,and often much more.Still, they developed wholly original approaches to their instruments. Aprime example is Joseph (King) Oliver (1885-1938), a cornetist andbandleader who used all sorts of found objects, including drinking glasses,a sand pail, and a rubber bathroom plunger to coax a variety of soundsfrom his horn. Freddie Keppard (1889-1933), Oliver's chief rival, didn'tuse mutes, perhaps because he took pride in being the loudest cornet intown. Keppard, the first New Orleans great to take the music to the rest ofthe country, played in New York vaudeville with the Original CreoleOrchestra in 1915.JAZZ COMES NORTHBy the early years of the second decade, the instrumentation of the typicalJazz band had become cornet (or trumpet), trombone, clarinet, guitar,string bass and drums. (Piano rarely made it since most jobs were onlocation and pianos were hard to transport.) The banjo and tuba, so closelyidentified now with early Jazz, actually came in a few years later becauseearly recording techniques couldn't pick up the softer guitar and string basssounds.The cornet played the lead, the trombone filled out the bass harmony partin a sliding style, and the clarinet embellished between these two brasspoles. The first real jazz improvisers were the clarinetists, among themSidney Bechet (1897-1959). An accomplished musician before he was 10,Bechet moved from clarinet to playing mainly soprano saxophone. He wasto become one of the most famous early jazzmen abroad, visiting Englandand France in 1919 and Moscow in 1927.Most veteran jazz musicians state that their music had no specific name atfirst, other than ragtime or syncopated sounds. The first band to use theterm Jazz was that of trombonist Tom Brown, a white New Orleanian whointroduced it in Chicago in 1915. The origin of the word is cloudy and itsinitial meaning has been the subject of much debate.The band that made the word stick was also white and also from NewOrleans, the Original Dixieland Jass Band. This group had a hugesuccess in New York in 1917-18 and was the first more or less authenticJazz band to make records. Most of its members were graduates of thebands of Papa Jack Laine (1873-1966), a drummer who organized hisfirst band in 1888 and is thought to have been the first white Jazzmusician. In any case, there was much musical integration in New Orleans,and a number of light skinned Afro-Americans "passed" in white bands.By 1917, many key Jazz players, white and black, had left New Orleansand other southern cities to come north. The reason was not the notorious1917 closing of the New Orleans red light district, but simple economics.The great war in Europe had created an industrial boom, and the musiciansmerely followed in the wake of millions of workers moving north to thepromise of better jobs.LITTLE LOUIS & THE KINGKing Oliver moved to Chicago in 1918. As his replacement in the bestband in his hometown, he recommended an 18-year-old, Louis Armstrong.Little Louis, as his elders called him, had been born on August 4, 1901, inpoverty that was extreme even for New Orleans' black population. Hisearliest musical activity was singing in the streets for pennies with a boy'squartet he had organized. Later he sold coal and worked on the levee.Louis received his first